It's Merriam Webster's Word of the Day for July 23rd.
Today's word is Catastrophe, spelled C-A-T-A-S-T-R-O-P-H-E.
Catastrophe is a noun.
A catastrophe is never a good thing.
It can refer to a momentous tragic event, an utter failure,
a violent and sudden change in a feature of the earth,
or a violent, usually destructive, natural event.
Here's the word used on CNN by Ella Nielsen.
In the event of a major catastrophe like a hurricane,
the agency would have a funding reserve set aside for initial response and recovery operations.
When the word catastrophe was borrowed from Greek in the 1500s, it was a term for tear-jerkers.
The catastrophe was the conclusion or final event of a usually tragic, dramatic work.
It comes from a Greek root meaning to overturn.
From there, the word moved on to occupy other territory relating to tragic happenings,
utter failures, and the worst sort of natural disasters.
Just as the word disaster can range from a calamitous event to one that is merely unsuccessful,
catastrophe can refer to what is truly devastating,
as well as to what is simply deeply disheartening.
In Henry IV, Part II, Shakespeare opted to steer the word away from disaster entirely,
and plant it squarely in the world of burlesque with these words,